Troyka is a three-piece ("troika" means "three" in Russian) Rochester rock outfit that plays music with elements of desire and power. Its sound is categorized by crunchy guitar over a pop groove, all of it under emotive vocals. With just three members - Ian Mitchell, guitar/vocals; Neil Dreger, bass; and Mike Reed, drums - to weave the sound, the air between the notes serves almost as a fourth member (anyone know how to say "four" in Russian?). The bottom line is, Troyka sounds bigger than the sum of its pieces.

The tangible members of Troyka got together in spring 2007. Dreger and Reed were in the Bob Greco Band while Mitchell was playing in Naked Gray and the Ian Mitchell Band, along with several acoustic projects.

"I wanted to play with Mike because he was a kick-ass drummer," says Mitchell. "Then I found out Neil had to come with Mike." The admiration was mutual.

"And I wanted to play with Ian because he was pretty," says Reed.

Troyka's sound is rooted in its groove. Call it pop if you like, but this is the element that hooks the ears and counters the guitar's temper. If Mitchell were not in Troyka, he would qualify as a full-on rock player. And his voice, especially on the tune "Samantha," has an exquisitely plaintive upper register, not unlike Sting. In fact, the band has a cool and overall "Regatta de Blanc" tinge to it.

It's easy to tell where a band wants to go by looking at where its members were before. A lot of new bands are reactionary, an answer to questions that the previous bands didn't ask.

"Mike and I came from a band that had a sole creator, and we weren't as much a part of the creative process and we wanted to be," says Dreger. "It was very formatted pop. We wanted to do something more in the style and feel of what we were interested in. We wanted to be something more organic." Mitchell was in the same place.

"That's basically where I was," he says. "I was ready to move on to something stronger, really concentrate on the new musicianship and really have a level of quality to it."

Within two months, the new band was already writing and recording, its members contributing equally. All of them agree: Troyka is democratic, despite democracy's pitfalls.

"It moves a little slower that way, because there is so much give and take," says Reed. "But all the songs come from the three minds."

"There's been a couple times," Dreger says, "where someone's brought an idea that, in the end, there's a unanimous decision that it doesn't fit the genre we've become. We all have such varied backgrounds - jazz, bluegrass, jam band, funk - all these different styles. And someone might come up with an idea that's too specific to a genre that doesn't fit the sound and vibe we've created."

"The interaction between the instruments," Dreger says, "that's where I think we shine; on the inside of the music as opposed to the outside."

And the shine will blind you on the band's first album, "Turn On Your Life," due out April 4. It's a cohesive, energetic, fun CD that might remind you of other power trios like The Police or The Jam or Rush. Though the band considers some of those legends as influences, their sound isn't something Troyka is pursuing. Troyka sounds original and fresh, though Dreger can't quite put his finger on why.

"Maybe [Troyka's sound] is present and readily audible," he says. "Whereas most bands are trying to find the mainstream, we're playing things we enjoy, creating the sounds we want. And I think what happens is, people see our own enjoyment. We're not doing it for the audience, we're doing it for ourselves, and that affects the audience."

"A lot of our best songs have happened spontaneously at our practices," Dreger says. Sometimes, according to Dreger, a song will come in that doesn't fit. But instead of trashing it, they work it on out.

"We Troyka-fy it," he says. It's as if, to the band, Troyka is its own genre.

"You could call it progressive rock at times, due to some of the harmonized lines the instruments play," Dreger says.

Reed breaks it down: "The basic genre is rock," he says. "We're a rock band, plain and simple. But the feeds that come into it have some reggae, jam band...there're a lot of instrumental aspects to it that change the genre."

So even though the band is progressing, it isn't evolving too far from where it was, or where it wants to go.

"We didn't know where we wanted to be," says Mitchell. "I think the sound, to be honest, has stayed pretty consistent. We've just tightened up the feel and all the things we were trying to do before. The method to our madness has unfolded."

And as the madness continues to unfold, or suggests additional instruments or sounds, Reed, Dreger, and Mitchell plan on keeping it all in house.

"We add anything," says Dreger, "We're going to add it ourselves."

Troyka CD release show

Saturday, April 4

Lovin' Cup, Park Point @ RIT

8 p.m. | $8-$10 | 292-9940, troykamusic.com